Air Force One flyover photos, $328k for what?

The Pentagon has released 146 more photos from Air Force One's New York flyover. You can view them here and you can also view the redacted flight manifest here.

After looking at all of the photos I must say, I wonder what was this fly over really about? We were told that it was a training mission and that they wanted to update file photos of Air Force One. But after looking at all the photos I kind of wonder.

The first thing I immediately noticed about the photos themselves is that none of them contain the majestic New York City skyline. There are angles that could have easily given Air Force One with both the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. Such an image would have been far more dramatic than the ones they took. Heck, why fly Air Force One all the way up to New York if you are not going to take full advantage of scenery and get your money's worth?

Also as someone who know more than a thing or two about photography, I have to say these photos are kind of on the amateur side. They seem more like snapshots than professional file photos. Just Google any military aircraft you can think of and you will see better photos than these. Clearly the military has photographers with skills, so why are these so crummy?

After seeing these photos I have to say, it all seems like a bigger waste of taxpayer's money than before.

Why the Beer Summit was such a bore snore.

Given all the hype of the Beer Summit, you would have thought we were about to enter a new age of Post-Post Racial America. Instead all we got was a bunch of crappy photos.

The reason why the Beer Summit turned out to be a Beer Bust, was because it was never really designed to be a meeting of the minds, instead it was design to cover self inflicted wounds.

Lets start the most wounded, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The brother got all bent out of shape because in walked the cops and they did not respect his authoritah as a Harvard celebrity. Gates knew damn well he broke into his own house, so why did he trip out when the police showed up saying they received a report about a break in? He tripped out because, at that moment in time the Great Henry Louis Gates, darling of Harvard, was just a regular guy who needed to show some ID. For that bit of indignation, Gates played the race card. However, in this case the race card became the race boomerang and hit Gates square in the ass.

Next we have Obama, who in a moment of candor, allowed his carefully crafted mask of Post Racial professionalism to slip and all of America was allowed to see the type of reverse racial prejudice that only comes from sitting in Reverend Wright's church for 20 years. Obama clearly did not know jack shit about what happened to his friend Gates. Yet Obama easily assumed that since a white cop hauled off his well heeled black friend, then the stupid cops must have had a racial motive. Again, the facts come out and the boomerang struck Obama. It was Gates big mouth set the whole dust up in motion and the police were just doing their job.

Finally we get to Sgt. Crowley, his only wound was letting Gates' big mouth get to him. Had he had just left the scene after getting the id he needed, he could have hopped into his patrol car and curse Gates mother, father and whole generation without anyone being the wiser. Sgt. Crowley's life would have forever remained the same. Instead from this point forward, Sgt. Crowley's life will forever be on the media's radar. God forbid Sgt. Crowley should have another questionable run in with a black man it will be circus city all over again.

Through out this whole over inflated story, the only real victim was the 911 caller Lucia Whalen, who tried to be a good Samaritan and all she got was a dose of the race car and scorn. She had to come forward and tearfully clear her own name. She wasn't even invited for a beer.

I truly hope we do not hear one more word about this over inflated story again. The only good part of the whole thing is that it threw Obama off message for several days and may have helped to save us all from the nightmare of socialized medicine.

Protesters at Obama's Town Hall Meeting in Raleigh

Now how come I did not see this on the news? Something tells me summer recess is going to be a nightmare for Obama and Congress. Read the full story at Randy's Right.

WTF? Maxine Waters scores #5 in The Hill's 50 Most Beautiful?

(h/t The Other McCain)

Over at The Hill, they are running a 50 Most Beautiful 2009 piece. Clearly the staff at The Hill must have cobbled this list together during some strange drinking game because they placed the very beautiful Jill Butler at #10!

Perhaps they ran out of Democrats, seeing that the top 10 consist of 8 Democrats, 1 Republican and 1 independent. Even then, Maxine Waters at #5???? We are clearly living in bizarre times, where you can spend your way out of bankruptcy and Maxine Waters is more beautiful than Jill Butler!

Kay Gerard, the only Republican in the top 10, she scored the #2 spot.

ACORNcracked.com

Yesterday Glenn Beck had on a gentleman by the name of Kyle Olson. Mr. Olson is an editor from ACORNcracked.com. On Beck's show, Olson showed his video interview of chief ACORN nut Wade Rathke. In the interview Rathke revealed some interesting stuff about his organization. Here is the video.

Visit ACORNcracked.com, they seem to be at the forefront of figuring out what the hell this organization is up to.

Government "savings" is a joke!

As we listen to the arguments for health care reform, one of the key things we keep hearing about is how "savings" will be used to help pay for the program. Nothing could be more ridiculous. If there is one thing that should be firmly planted in the minds of every American, it should be that our government is incapable of creating or handling savings.

There were two stories out yesterday that I think clearly prove the point. First up is the Obama administration finding a measly $100 million in "savings". This microscopic sum, when compared to our national debt, was what Obama requested back in April. While many supporters of this administration will no doubt say that Obama kept his word and that $100 million is nothing to sneeze at, I now would like to bring your attention to story number two.

Here we have H.R. 1018, the Restore Our American Mustang Act. As some of you might have herd (sorry for the pun), The House would like to spend $700 million dollars on this bill in order to do such nifty things like lock up 19 million acres for the horse, take a census on the horses and provide the horse with enhanced contraceptives. Should H.R. 1018 pass, it would take the Obama administration almost two years to find enough "savings" to pay for it.

What these two stories show is that while saving can be found in one place, Washington has the power to waste it (and a whole lot more) some place else. So the next time you hear Obama, Pelosi or Reid yammering on about "savings" they are going to find to help pay for health care, think of these two stories and know that in the end they will waste whatever "savings" they find on something else.

Hillary Clinton election ready?

Via The New York Daily News:

WASHINGTON-Hillary Clinton says running for office isn't on her "radar," but she still has an eight-person political team and sports two overflowing campaign war chests.

Her team transformed the former Democratic White House contender's massive campaign debts into a $3 million mountain of political cash, according to federal fund-raising records through the end of June.

Clinton's failed presidential bid is now $1 million in the black, and her old Senate campaign committee has $2.1 million in the bank, much of it transferred in from the presidential account. The former First Lady paid eight staffers nearly $100,000 in the second quarter of the year to tend to the remains of her political empire.

I said it before and I will say it again, Hillary will jump ship the moment Obama looks like a complete looser. She will not screw up her political future by getting pulled down with a sinking ship.

What I find interesting about this is that there are Democrats out there who are still giving to her campaign. I wonder if they represent Democrats who are not happy with the way Obama has turned out so far? Time will tell.

Obama loses ground on health care

New polls out today from NBC/WSJ and the New York Times both show that Obama is losing ground on the health care debate. This should come as no surprise. Obama is basically trying to sell something most Americans don't want or need and to make matters worse he is trying to sell it at a time when most American don't see how we can afford it.

What is really causing him to lose traction is the fact that he needs to be vague about what the entire plan entails. Basically Obama and the Democrats simply wants the government to take over the health care industry. All their chatter about lowering costs, saving lives, adding choice or insuring the uninsured is all a smoke screen. If any of the things they stated were true, their solutions would be a lot smaller and cheaper.

Thankfully it is this vagueness that is really helping to sink the operation. As Obama and the Democrats continue with their vague talk, health care reform opposition can be as explicit about the bills as they please. Thus in the absence of pro health care reform facts, health care opposition facts are drive the debate. The more the public knows about the bills floating around in Congress the less they like.

If the Blue Dogs stay true to their word about no vote until after recess (I have my doubts) then it is our responsibility to drive home the point to returning Congress members, NO GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH CARE!

Radio Palin anyone?

Move over Rush, make way Hannity, pass the microphone Mark Levin, Sarah Palin maybe testing the waters of radio!

Via Inside Radio:

Alaska’s now former Governor is coy about her future political plans, but radio is at least one option she’s leaving on the table. While not exactly shopping the GOP’s 2008 vice presidential candidate, sources say Palin representatives have been quietly testing the waters to see how much interest radio syndicators have for her.

Sources say Palin hasn’t committed to radio either, but rather it could be a possible next step for her. It isn’t unusual for a defeated national candidate to turn to radio. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s short-form commentaries air on more than 400 stations via Citadel Media. He remains among the names circulated for a potential presidential run in 2012.

Coming to radio would be an ironic twist for Palin, whose position on the media is pretty clear. “Quick making things up,” she told reporters in her final speech as Governor last week.

Ironic twist? Methinks not, Sarah Palin was always aware that there was a media filter working against her.

2008 VP Debates, Palin:

I like being able to answer these tough questions without the filter, even, of the mainstream media kind of telling viewers what they've just heard. I'd rather be able to just speak to the American people like we just did.

What is the best way to get around that filter? Have your own damn show. Plus a radio show would certainly fit her stated plans. (Palin resignation 7/3/2009)

And there is such a need to BUILD up and FIGHT for our state and our country. I choose to FIGHT for it! And I'll work hard for others who still believe in free enterprise and smaller government; strong national security for our country and support for our troops; energy independence; and for those who will protect freedom and equality and LIFE... I'll work for and campaign for those PROUD to be American, and those who are INSPIRED by our ideals and won't deride them.

If she is going to fight for the American way, the gal will need a soapbox and radio could do it. Plus you all know her show will be an instant hit. Just her conservative base alone would insure that it is, but add to the mix all the Palin Haters listening for things to tear her down with and her audience could rival Rush! I hope she does it; she would be far more interesting to listen to than watching Huckabee’s show (his pace on that show is terrible).

Tea Time for Claire McCaskill's Town Hall meeting.

The ever arrogant Claire McCaskill, finally held a Town Hall meeting on Obamacare after rebuffing her constituents before. She got her just rewards. Needless to say, little Ms. Arrogance did not have the cajones to show herself but sent an aide instead. Now this is what I call a Tea Party!

Get the full story at Gateway Pundit.

Who’s afraid of Citizen Palin? MoveOn is!

Sarah Palin has not even enjoyed a good 24 hours as a free woman and she is already being targeted with attack ads. Check out this attack ad by MoveOn:

No matter what the talking heads tell you about Sarah Palin, know this, she scares the bejeeesus out of the left! Don’t believe me? Ask your self this. Mitt Romney is moving up in conservative polls and has tied Obama in a recent match up, how come there are no Mitt Romney attack ads? How come the left are not writing endless negative pieces on him? How come no one on the left seems to show the slightest alarm that he ties Obama in a 2012 match up?

Just like Palin, Romney is a private citizen, just like Palin Romney has spoken out against Obama’s policies, but unlike Palin, no one on the left seems to pay any attention to Mitt Romney. That is because they know they can polish him off in 2 seconds flat. The left long ago wrote the playbook on how to deal with old white and wealthy Republican males.

While we are on the topic of Palin, there is another thing that the talking heads keep bringing up. They all say that Palin should not go after the media because it sounds like whining. I say BS! Conservatives have eaten humble pie, played along and worked around media bias for decades and what has it brought us? No one damn thing. The media still plays their little game of bias and has now completely jumped the shark for Obama. So why not point out that they are two face liars and pushing the left’s agenda instead of reporting news. If anyone is deluding himself or herself thinking that the dirty trick used by the media against Palin won’t be deployed against the 2012 GOP candidate, they had better think again.

Lessons learned from Gates-gate

Now that the 911 tapes have been released, we find that the neighbor’s call was not racially motivated. So what lessons can we learn from Gates-gate thus far.

Lesson 1: Even in big and sometimes impersonal cities like Cambridge, neighbors still watch your back. The neighbor called the police as a concerned citizen. She had no interest other than looking out for someone’s property she did not know.

Lesson 2: Tripping out on a police officer is never a good idea. Makes no difference if you are black, white, purple, green or yellow, tripping out on a police officer can get in landed in pokey, laws be damned. Police officers are human, they can get angry too, the thing to remember is that they carry pepper spray, handcuffs, firearms and most importantly the ability to cart you away. If a police officer crosses the line and pisses you off, bite your tongue and bide your time. You will have the upper hand AFTER he or she is out of your face.

Lesson 3: While some racism can still be found in America today, America has come a very long way in terms of racism. Just because a black man has an encounter with a white police officer, doesn’t automatically mean there is a racial issue. It is time we stop reacting to racial angst from our past and start seeing race in America as it exist today. Remember Obama would never be president if only black people voted for him.

Lesson 4: It is not necessary or wise for the President of the United States to speak out on every little issue of the day. Do we really need to know a president’s opinion is on sports events, celebrities, local issues and so forth? This business of presidents commenting on everything has been going on for a while. It intensified under Clinton and continued at that level with Bush and Obama. I think it is time we stop asking presidents about these types of things and use the time to ask more probing questions like what the hell is in that healthcare bill?

Lesson 5: This one is for Obama, choose your friends more wisely!

The craziness behind Obamanomics

James Lewis writing for the American Thinker had an article yesterday titled “Indulging Craziness” (a must read). In the article Lewis makes the argument that when sane people go along with crazy people for the sake of peace or compassion, we multiply and spread the craziness.

We have been taught to indulge craziness. It's supposed to show that we're "compassionate". Psychiatrists know this: If you let crazy folks set the rules, you have to get crazy right along with them. It doesn't matter if your client is crazy for good reasons. The cause doesn't matter one little bit. Good therapists are taught never to indulge craziness, because that just makes everything worse. Alcoholics Anonymous has long understood exactly the same thing. Real compassion doesn't mean joining people in the pits. That just means that you get two crazy people instead of just one. And then you get more and more, as the phony compassion spreads.

He obviously relates this argument to the current administration and sums up his article like this:

Humans have a hard time facing reality. Power-hungry people drift into their own fantasy world by cutting off the truth-tellers. This is the most fantasy-driven administration in US history. That will be their downfall, as we are already beginning to see right in front of our eyes.

From the very beginning of the Obama campaign, I wondered about the sanity of it all. Supposedly “smart” and “sane” people in the media and the Democrat Party were all telling us that Obama was brilliant, accomplished, enlightened and a miracle man. Yet when I studied his resume, bio, and political accomplishments all I could find was a good speech giver who knew how to climb the social ladder but did little next to nothing for his constituents.

In September when the financial markets went into meltdown, those same “smart” and “sane” individuals all said that Obama, who never ran a business or balanced a budget (to be fair neither did McCain or Biden) was the right person to lead us out of tough economic times.

Even today with the national debt at levels that risk the Republic itself, the smart sane crowd tells us that Obama’s agenda to add trillions more to the nation's debt is a sound economic plan.

The truth, which is starting to become painfully clear, is that Obama as president was a crazy notion from the get go.

I submit that the driving force behind the “sane” folks in the media and on the left was that they were enthralled with the idea of having the first black president. They placed this notion above picking someone who was really equipped to handle the challenges that America was facing. I further submit that it is their fervent desire to see the first black president succeed at his agenda, rather than to admit that his plan is just plain crazy.

I offer you Joe Biden’s recent remarks as proof. Recently Joe Biden in one of his candid moments said these remarks at an AARP town hall meeting:

“We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation,”

“Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’”

“The answer is yes, that's what I’m telling you.” (audio)

Within seconds of hearing this, we all recognize these statements for exactly what they are…crazy talk. Yet, this IS Obama’s economic agenda. Obama has been telling us the exact same thing in colorful rhetoric since January. What is the difference? The difference is that Joe Biden is just another white vice president and Barack Obama is the first black president of the United States. However, the economic concept is still the same…crazy, crazy, crazy!

Crazy people who put race above all else have led us down the garden path to possible financial ruin. It is time that sane people step up and call out Obama’s economic agenda for exactly what it is…craziness!

Federal Reserve gone wild

The Federal Reserve is long over due for an audit and this radio interview with Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) proves it. Hat tip to Glenn Beck's twitter page. By the way, I think Alan Grayson is the kind of Democrat Sarah Palin had in mind when she said she would support Democrats.

Sarah Palin's Farewell Address

ACORN outnumbered by Tea Party Patriots 10-1 on Long Island

Here is a great account of Tea Party Patriots standing up to ACORN activist on Long Island over ObamaCare. The ACORN people were outnumbered 10-1 and they still tried to talk smack to the Patriots. In the end ACORN had to give up. Read the first hand account here.

First there was MoveOn being outnumbered by Tea Partiers and now ACORN! Methinks there is a trend coming. If Obama thought socializing America was going to be easy, he needs to think again. Go Patriots!

Another close friend of Obama turns out to be shady

What is it about all these “close” friends of Obama? They all seem to have some shadiness about them. All his close friends are tax cheats; terrorists, socialists or just plain old have their hand in the cookie jar.

This from Reihl World View:

Henry Louis Gates, Jr controls a tax-exempt, non-profit charity, Inkwell Foundation, Inc, that managed to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct support in one year, yet only gave out $27,500 in grants, the bulk of which went to Gates' employees and Harvard colleagues. Also, as recently as September 2008, the Boston Globe reported that Gates' charity was not in compliance with the law for failing to register the proper paperwork, despite the charity existing since 2005. The charge at the time was that it was "bogus," as you'll see below. In fact, the state Attorney General's office told the Globe the charity was likely either inactive, or dissolved. Yet, documents below show the charity is healthy, wealthy and active.

Perhaps this is why the brother was trippin’ when the cops showed up. He must have thought the jig was up! Read the whole thing, it is quite fascinating.

Obamacare: Just Say No!

Via The Star Telegram:

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry, raising the specter of a showdown with the Obama administration, suggested Thursday that he would consider invoking states’ rights protections under the 10th Amendment to resist the president’s healthcare plan, which he said would be "disastrous" for Texas.

To say I like the way Rick Perry stands firm on his state’s 10th Amendment rights would be an understatement. When you think about how Washington is hell-bent on bankrupting the nation, why should states sleep walk right into disaster?

Texas is in far better financial shape than Washington to begin with, clearly Texas’ policies are working and Washington’s is not, so why accept a massive program that will hurt the state’s economy?

If there is one thing the current Congress and Obama have succeeded at, it seems to be the awakening of “We The People”. Certainly among the conservative grassroots, activism is in full bloom. Tea Parties are springing up everywhere, Congressmen getting laughed at over their foolishness and even MoveOn getting rolled at a rally. Just today I read where some New Yorkers are looking into abolishing its state Constitution and installing a new one!

The American people instinctively know that now is not the time for expensive job killing boondoggles like Obamacare and Cap and Tax. America took a bath over the faux stimulus and is not likely going to sit by and get snookered again. Over the next 3 and a half years, I hope this grassroots push back on Washington grows so that common sense can make a come back.

Welcome to New Jersey! We make Blagos!

As some of you may have read, there were massive arrests in New Jersey yesterday. This time it was a bunch of politicians getting caught up in a money laundering operation involving rabbis in New York and Deal, New Jersey. Plus one human organ peddler. Hollywood could not make up weirder stuff if it tried.

When I looked at the list of who they nabbed this time, I saw two types of folks. The first type made me say, what took them so long to catch that crook and the other type made my jaw drop in surprise.

They arrested the one-month in office mayor of Hoboken; they arrested two of the mayoral candidates from Jersey City’s last election, they also arrested two other city mayors, plus a slew of underlings. Rumor has it, they will be taking in another crop today too!

Why so much corruption in NJ you ask? I see three reasons:

1. Massive Government. As stated by Governor Corzine (I wonder if he will be getting a knock on the door) in his press conference on the matter, New Jersey’s government is too large. With so many elected officials, it is all too easy to find a weak link to corrupt.

2. Cronyism. So many of the people arrested today have been kicking around for years. They live like leeches off government. So many of them hold city, county and state jobs at the same time and trade off positions from one administration to the next. They never seem to be out of office. It is so bad that some of them even have their children working the system in the same way.

3. Property taxes. Because property taxes are so damn high here in New Jersey, the temptation to bribe someone to catch a break is all to great. If you are a developer it actually makes sense to bribe someone for a tax abatement or rate discount and all it takes is the stroke of a pen from the right politician.

So until New Jersey gets smaller government with term limits and lower taxes, it will continue to churn out little Blagos by the bucketful.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.: Respect My Authoritah!

I wasn’t going to blog about Henry Louis Gates’ dust up with the Cambridge police because; Gates immediately struck me as another brother unnecessarily playing the race card. Mr. Gates is one of those brothers who firmly wear his racism goggles everyday. They see every microscopic piece of racism in every little corner of the globe. Had his home been broken into for real and the cops did not stop it, he would be calling them racists for letting his home get robbed.

Sadly, brothers like Gates get all the attention, more attention than real racism like those poor kids getting kicked out of the pool in Philly.

After reading about both sides of the story, I bet Gates’ real problem wasn’t that the cops were racist (heck, wasn’t one of the cops in the picture black too) but that they did not recognize Gates’ authority at Harvard. As Eric Cartman from South Park would say, they did not respect his authoritah! Instead the cops just did their job, they got a report that there was a suspected break in, they went to the location and made double sure that the person in the house was really the owner, case close. Their biggest sin was that they treated Gates like a common man, not a common black man mind you, but just a common man. That is what pissed Gates off and made him pull a race card.

I also suspect that it was the cops failure to recognize Gates’ Harvard status, which made Obama call them stupid! Obama too seems to revels a wee bit too much in his authoritah. He has made little references to his superior status from time to time. Even in his news conference he had this line:

So let me be clear. This isn't about me.
I have great health insurance, and so does every member of Congress.

This statement is a rather telling thing to say when you are trying to sell “universal” healthcare to the masses.

For Obama the cops were stupid because they did not know who the great Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was and therefore did not afford Gates all the courtesies and specials privileges that his status at Harvard should bring. For Obama that was the reason for the cop’s stupidity and the justification for Gates’ anger.

In the end, the whole Gates dust up has little to do with a black man being wronged and everything to do with an elitist not getting his ass kissed.

Obama’s Fifth “News” Conference

Tonight I actually watched Obama’s so called news conference. Normally I make it a point to only read his speeches and news conferences because I find it far more revealing and I am not distracted by his teleprompter head movements or rather good delivery. Here are the notes I made during the speech.

Observations:

Obama is walking up to the podium: I cannot believe how many people complained about Bush’s swagger, but not a peep about Obama. He is clearly swaggering up to the podium.

Obama starts speaking: Amen he is clearly using the Jumbo Prompter, no ping-pong head tonight!

The press is completely useless, their questions all seem rehearsed. The whole Q and A part reminds me of when I was in grade school and we had to prepare questions for a guest speaker. We would have to write questions and the teacher would edit them, then when the speaker arrived the next day we would stand up and give our scripted questions and sit back and let the speaker droned on and on and on.

None of these questions are kind that the public would like to know. Here is a question I would have asked: Who the hell is the government to decide how long my parents or grandparents get to live and in their “infinite wisdom” should they decide wrong, can I sue the living hell out of them?

Obama’s rambling, long-winded answers seem like just a bunch of assertions, anecdotes and pure BS. No facts or real answers.

Overall impression

This presser was a waste of time. Everything Obama said has been said before. His arguments for radically changing our healthcare system are weak and would hardly stand up if the media were to actually press him on any of it.

None of his arguments really answer the basic question as to why we need to change the entire system by handing full control to the government. All of his concerns can be address individually for less money, less time and without changing everything for everyone.

Obama’s need to paint Republicans as obstructionist is foolish. Everyone knows that they have absolutely no power to change anything. The real holdouts here are from his party and they are balking because the American people don’t like what he is selling.

Speaking of selling, what is it he is trying to sell us so damn quickly? He is basically asking the American people to sign on to a full transformation of our healthcare system because he says it is broken and this is the only way to fix it. Never mind that the fix is not fully defined in terms of costs, terms of service, etc. Plus he is asking for this at a time when the full effect of him damaging himself by bullshitting Americans on the Stimulus is starting to be felt.

In the end, I don’t think Obama will prevail before August. If anything passes this year, it will be some crazy hodgepodge that gives the government more control but not full control of healthcare.

Shop those lies someplace else!

The people are not buying the lies on Obamacare.

He knows not what he sells

As Obama reprises his role of Chicken Little to get us to feel the urgency of heath care reform, we find out that he doesn’t even know what is in the bill he is trying to sell. During Obama’s call to lefty bloggers, he admits that he is not familiar with the provision that would prevent private insurers from writing new policies after HR 3200 passes. That provision would have the effect of forcing people onto the Public Option.

Click here to hear the audio.

Aside from the price tag, healthcare reform is failing because, like the Stimulus and Cap and Trade, no one knows what the hell is in the damn thing. People are not comfortable with these mystery legislations that Congress doesn’t even care to read. Now it seems that Obama doesn’t care to read them either.

Obama calls on left wing bloggers to help save Obamacare

David Axelrod and Obama had a conference call with lefty bloggers to help get support and knock down “myths” about Obamacare. What is really funny is that one of the lefty bloggers (Crooks and Liars) actually recorded the conversation and uploaded it to his blog!

President Obama and David Axlerod hosted a conference call with liberal bloggers today on the whole health care issue. The audio contains the entire call with the President. You know we’re heading for the home stretch in this debate and I thought it was a good idea that the President reached out to the blogs and acknowledged the work that we’ve done so far. Here’s a quick recap of the points he made.

Is this just me or does this whole thing stink of desperation? Perhaps Obama had this little fireside chat because more ugly things are coming out about Obamacare like this:

“The section, titled ‘Advanced Care Planning Consultation’ requires senior citizens to meet at least every 5 years with a doctor or nurse practitioner to discuss dying with dignity.”

(h/t Instapundit)

Bobby Jindal's Politico article

'A trillion here, a trillion there'

By: Bobby Jindal

July 20, 2009 04:23 AM EST

Things in Louisiana are looking up. We are announcing major economic development wins and private capital investment and reducing government spending in order to live within our means. We just completed a grueling legislative session where we all had to work together, Democrats and Republicans, to find a way to do more with less.

We trimmed government spending, protected vital services and refused to raise taxes. (As is the case in any legislative body, some gave it a try). I can’t say our legislative session was much fun, but it was necessary, and it is the American way. Or, at least we thought it was.

In the meantime, I’ve been catching up on the news in Washington. I wish I had not.

Let’s review: the Troubled Asset Relief Program, bailouts for American International Group and others, CEOs of bankrupt businesses that receive billions of tax dollars running off with millions in bonuses, a $ 3.5 trillion budget, a nearly trillion-dollar stimulus that has not stimulated, unemployment continuing to climb, government in the banking business, and of course, the U.S. government now making cars.

We have record deficits, which are unprecedented in recorded world history. We have debt that is even causing our creditors in the Middle East and China to be worried. Oops, I almost forgot the new national energy tax that just passed the House. If it isn’t bad enough that you may have lost your job and been fighting off foreclosure, the government now wants to make sure you, and every other American, pay more in energy costs so former Vice President Al Gore can be happy. This here is a fine pot of gumbo.

I honestly do not know one single individual who is happy with this situation. Not one. Not a Republican, a Democrat or an independent. These actions are all problematic individually, but taken as a whole, they are devastating. So against that backdrop, we enter the health care reform debate.

I know a little something about health care policy, and I can tell you exactly the game that is currently afoot. If the House Democrats’ plan were to become law, the president’s statement that “if you like your health care now, you can keep it” will not be true. This is not an opinion, this is a fact.

Businesses will, in effect, be forced to send employees into the Democrats’ government-run health care. It’s really not something to argue about, it is a fact. A private health insurance system, otherwise known as what we have today, will not be able to compete with a taxpayer-subsidized government plan, and businesses faced with growing health care costs will opt to either lay off more workers or send employees into the government plan. One independent study already suggested that up to 119 million Americans will end up leaving their private plans for the public plan. To think otherwise requires one to suspend disbelief.

The plan the House Democrats are developing is a radical restructuring of health care in America. You may like it, you may not, but it is just that; there is no denying or sugarcoating it.

Let me be clear about something: I have no problem conceding that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with whom I served in Congress, means well, even though I realize some Republicans get mad when I say that. But the simple fact is that House Democrats are determined to try to tax and spend our way back to prosperity. The past six months have made that clear.

Our federal government is currently just flinging stuff against the wall, in trillion-dollar chunks, to see what sticks. Congress’s own budget office has said the current “federal budget is on an unsustainable path” and that the Democrats’ health plan does not reduce “long-term health costs facing the government.”

The House Democrats’ plan would have the following consequences:

• Most Americans would end up, over time, with government-run health care.

• The only folks who would be able to stave this off are the wealthy.

• The quality of our health care would diminish.

• Someone other than patients and doctors would make decisions on the treatments and medicines we can have.

• The taxes on the rich, otherwise known as employers, would further damage the economy and potentially drive up unemployment at a time we can least afford it.

If you like those outcomes, then by all means, support the House Democrats’ health care plan.

The shame of it all is that there really is an emerging consensus among the populace that we need reform that reduces costs, improves outcomes and puts patients in control. Imagine if the president proposed a reform package that made health insurance portable, ended frivolous lawsuits, allowed for pooling, required insurance companies to cover the sick, paid based on outcomes and not activity, used refundable tax credits to increase affordability and incentivized rather than penalized small businesses to provide coverage. Republicans would support those reforms, and the policy would benefit the entire country. True, it wouldn’t be the radical and exciting restructuring that Pelosi is pushing, but it would begin to move us toward common-sense, bottom-up solutions. Solutions! There’s an idea.

But wait, as the late Billy Mays would say, there’s more. Social Security and Medicare, our two biggest entitlement programs in this country, are perpetually underfunded and are always in danger of going bankrupt. Is it even remotely possible that we as a country are now considering adding an entire new entitlement program to our repertoire?

Would the last sane person in Washington please turn out the lights when you leave?

Bobby Jindal is the Republican governor of Louisiana.

Via: Politico

Drive by bloggin'! When you don't have time to blog

Sorry I missed blogging for a couple of days, folks. We had a wedding in the family and I thought I would be able to blog while away. Note to self: Weekend long celebrations + Blogging = Bad idea!

With that here is a recap of some stories that caught my eye.

Rest In Peace

The Passing of Walter Cronkite really brings into focus the great demise of network news. I remember watching Walter when there was no CNN, no MSNBC and no Fox. I also remember that I was too young to neither understand nor identify media bias. So to me, Walter was pure, nothing like the bias script readers of today (paging Katie Couric). I hope as the media does their tributes to Cronkite, they take the time to analyze just how far they have fallen.

The truth shall set you free

Perhaps now that a first class moron has explained Obama’s moronic economic policy, people will wake up and realize that we are in deep trouble. I said it before and I will say it again, Biden is the gift that keeps on giving!

Barbara Boxer Busted

Silly Barbara things if she mentions the NAACP then all blacks just fall in line. Please, every knows that the NAACP is nothing more than another left wing organization, but in this case with black faces. The NAACP acts just like NOW, pushing the left wing agenda first and foremost, while pretending to speak for all members of a certain group. I am glad Mr. Alford called her out on her condescending bullshit. She was speaking to him the whole time like he was some 3rd grader.

Glory Days

I have always been a great fan of America’s manned space missions. I remember my entire family watching all of the moon missions with great attention. We even watched the first shuttle launches with great awe. Sadly, today as I watch, the old clips I cannot help feeling like those were the Glory Days of America. Today our nation is on the verge of financial ruin as we take on so much debt because too many people want a free ride and we have too many politicians willing to give them one. Will America ever be able to scale such dazzling heights again? I pray that sanity prevails during the next 4 years.

Obamacare: It’s not about options

Investors Business Daily has done an excellent series of editorials on the whole health care scheme Obama and the Democrats are cooking up. You can read the whole series here.

In their editorial titled It’s Not An Option, they found this in the House version of the bill on page 16:

When we first saw the paragraph Tuesday, just after the 1,018-page document was released, we thought we surely must be misreading it. So we sought help from the House Ways and Means Committee.

It turns out we were right: The provision would indeed outlaw individual private coverage. Under the Orwellian header of "Protecting The Choice To Keep Current Coverage," the "Limitation On New Enrollment" section of the bill clearly states:

"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.

So in other words, you can keep your private insurance now, but God help you if you loose it or need to switch. Then you only option is the public option.

As a self-employed individual, it is crucial for me to be able to shop around to keep my costs down. If my current insurer raises their rates, I would be unable to shop for another private insurer. I would either have to pay the higher rates or go on the public plan. If the public plan causes my private insurer to go out of business, then again I would be forced into the public paln.

This is nothing more than fascist strong-arm tactics. Obama and the Democrats true goal is to get everyone on government run health care whether you want to go or not.

What I don’t understand is, if it cost a trillion dollars to insure a fraction of those currently uninsured, then why on earth create a scheme that will force so many more on the public plan? How much more is that going to cost and who the hell is getting stuck with that tab?